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Battle Over Ticket Sellers' Terms of Service

Battle Over Ticket Sellers' Terms of Service

Is it illegal to break a ticket seller’s terms of service? And is protecting the ticket seller’s market control good for consumers? These questions were brought up by an amicus brief filed on Friday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The brief sided with the operators of Wiseguys Tickets Inc., who were arrested for using automated programs to buy tickets from Ticketmaster and others for resale through their company. The prosecution, says the EFF, expands the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act beyond Congress’s intentions by linking it to an original ticket vendor’s (OTV) terms of service. “Whatever the impropriety of cutting the line for goods offered to the general public, doing so is not a CFAA offense,” reads the brief. “Moreover, this Court should not presume that fans benefit from Ticketmaster and other OTVs’ control over the market.”

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